Improvement in the manufactttre of oyster-kegs



@sind gisten GEORGE ERAUENBERGER, OE ROCHESTER, NEW YORK..

' Letters Patent No. 93,870, dated August 17, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OYSTER-KEG-S.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent vand making part of the same.

To all lwhom 'it may concern v t Beit known that I, GEORGE FBAUENBEEGER, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improve- Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of a keg v made from a straight prepared slab, with the usual heads and hoops. Y

Figure 2 represents a sectional view of the slab when bent to form the keg, showingA the manner in which the ends ofthe slab are brought together.

Figure v3 represents a view of a portion of the' straight-,grooved blank of which the'keg is made.

p Barrels and kegs have been made from hollow cylinders, turned o or rounded from solid cylinders, and then slitted, and a piece taken from or added to, as may be required, toV bling the body to the proper di mensions.

They have also been made by cutting from the surface of solid cylinders a scroll of proper thickness and size, said' scroll having a concave surface inside, and

.the outer surface correspondingly convex.

I ani also aware that barrels and kegs'have been made of a volute piece or pieces, having gore or wedgeshaped pieces cut from each end, for the purpose of forming the proper bulge to the body of the barrel, but the method of construction embraced in these inventions'is essentially different from that involved in the construction and manufacture of the improvements claimed as of my invention, which consists in producing a keg, as a new article of manufacture, from a slab or slabs, shaped, grooved, steamed, bent, and fitted with heads and hoops, in manner as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, the keg is representedas bent, and made from a single straight Hat slab, f.

Fig. 3 represents one end of this slab, which is cut or sawed from a solid, flat block of wood, of proper thickness, having grooves G near either end, for the reception of the heads b ofthe barrel.v

These grooves are cut entirely' across the slab, parallel to the ends thereof, at the same operation by which the slabs are formed of the proper' length and' width, so that the grain of the wood shall be at right angles to the grooves, and lengthwise of the keg, and when bent, the strength of the wood will be in the direction otlthe length of the keg, thereby adding to it increased strength.

The ends d gf the slab, which meet and form the jointe, when bent into cylindrical shape to form the keg, are square, for a purpose Ato be presently de scribed.

The slabs thus cutand grooved would not admit of being bent into the desired form, as they would split and crack under such an operation. v

' To remedy this, therefore, the slabs are subjected to a bath of hot water, or steam, until suiciently sea-` soned and ilexible to bend easily with the grain of theV wood, thereby rendering 'it tough' and elastic. The hotbath not only allows the slab to be bent, but serves the eqnallyimportantpurpose o f extracting the sap from the material, so as to render itentirely tasteless, as well as inodorous, thereby producing a keg suitable for the preservation and transportation of raw oysters, fruits', Sto., as articles of merchandise, without in the least degree imparting to sucli'articles any unnatural lavor. i,

The material thus soaked, steamed, and seasoned for the purposes described, is ready to be bent into form, and in doing so, it will be seen that the pores vof the Wood are entirely closed von the inside surface by the act of bending, which readily compresses the bres of the wood, imparts to it a hard, compact surface, and tends to prevent the contents of the keg from being absorbed by the sapless wood, which would be the case were it not for this solidity imparted to it by the act of bending. V

This process also enables me to use poronswood, which could not be done if lthe material were not thus bent, because the pores of the wood, without such bending, would remain in their natural state.

' In bendingv the slabto form the keg, it-.will be seen that the inner edges (l of its squareends only are brought together, so as to'form a V-shaped opening at their junction. The object of this is to allow the ,hoops to compress the two ends of the slab, so as to make them bite into one another, and close the joint completely from the inner side.

This cramped joint could not be obtained so well if the ends of said slab were bevelled -instead'of being square. f A

The slabs, as well as the heads b, may be placed in a steam-chest, or in any other manner soaked, steamed, and seasoned in a hot bath, being so placed as to ex'- pose' their sidesffully to theaction of the steam lor boiling Water.

The bending of the slab to form the keg may be done by placing it betweenrollers, and holding it so that one revolution of the-rollers will, give it the desired form, or it may be done in any other. manner.

The slab thus bent is removed, a truss hoop put on', the heads put in, andthe keg hooped.

One of the heads b may be provided with a bunghole, litted with a bung in the usual manner.

As an article of manufactmait is 'apparent that kegs made from straight slabs, steamed and bent, possess many advantages over, and are entirely different from anything cut from solid cylinders, either of cylindrical or of volute form, beeausethe operation of form` ing kegs by the latter process' isl not only materially different, one being cut in the required form', while the other is cut'straight and bent into form, .but the results produced by the steam or hot bath vhave never before been attained in the manufacture of kegs.

v For convenience and economy, I propose to use one 0r two slabs in the formation of a kefr, and to make any size and kind of keg or barrel desibred.

The grooved ends of the slabs are beyelled on manent seat for the hoops.

thev outside,'so that the hoops aire forced thereon, for the purpose of compressing said slab, thus forming apex,

ness, and are cut froma solid block of wood, in these thin layers until the block is entirely consumed.

It will be seen, therefore, that when these thin slabs are exposed to a bath of steam or boiling Water, the

and seasoned.

Having thus described my improvement,

-I claim av keg made from slabs, shaped, grooved, steamed, bent, and fitted with heads and hoops, substantially as herein shown and described, as a new article of manufacture.

GEORGE FRAUENBERGER.

Witnesses: y

- GEO. EIoHoRN, C. T. LEADLEY.

The slabs are about one-quarter of an inch in thick#- sap is easily extracted, and the slabs rendered pure 

